Chamber and committees

Travel undertaken by an Air Discount Scheme (ADS) member on behalf of a Private Limited Company would be considered business-related travel and would not be eligible for discounted fares. Travel undertaken by a scheme member on behalf of a not-for-profit company or other third sector organisation would be eligible for discounted fares, provided that the organisation had registered with the ADS Administrative Team based at Inverness Airport. If a member was travelling in a dual capacity and part of the reason for travel was business-related, their travel would not be eligible for discounted fares.

The provision of the GP component of the training programme is through two NHS Education for Scotland (NES) approved training practices in the Hillswick and Lerwick Health Centres.

The Gilbert Bain Hospital provides the majority of the hospital experience that forms a part of the training programme, complemented by more specialist hospital experience in Aberdeen that cannot be gained on Shetland.

The Rural-track GP Specialty Training (GPST) option was offered as one of 18 GPST programmes in Scotland from the 2012 recruitment round.

It was promoted through the Scottish Medical Training website and was featured in an edition of “BMJ Careers” in January 2012 entitled “Training the rural GPs of the future”

http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/media/570062/general_practice_rural_track_2012.pdf. http://www.mmc.scot.nhs.uk/living-and-working-in-scotland/remote-and-rural.aspx.

http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/view-article.html?id=20006803.

Every opportunity is also taken by the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) GP team and the wider deanery team in the North of Scotland to promote this training opportunity to individuals and groups of young doctors who are at the stage of considering options for specialty training.

The first cohort was recruited in August 2012. Five posts were filled; two in Western Isles and one in each of Shetland, Orkney and Caithness, although the Caithness based trainee has since resigned.

NES has reported that it has received significant informal interest from trainees for the 2013 recruitment round which opens on 12 November 2012.

There are no plans to make registration on My World of Work compulsory for school pupils. Skills Development Scotland will continue to work with schools and pupils to encourage extensive use of the new service.

The Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) has selected around 1,150 agricultural units to be inspected under its 2012 inspection programme. This equates to 5% of all single application forms submitted to cover a number of grant schemes with varying conditions, albeit the inspections relating to the Single Farm Payment and Less Favoured Area Support Schemes are primarily concerned with assessing eligible land. The inspections undertaken are no more than the minimum number required by the European Commission, and for each area office is broken down as follows:

Under the Crofting Cattle Improvement Scheme, the bull stud at Knocknagael Farm transferred from the Crofters Commission to the Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate (now Division) on 1 August 2011, with the transfer of three permanent members of staff.

Under the Croft House Grants Scheme, a further six members of staff based in Tiree transferred from the Commission to RPID on the same date.

Crofters’ access to these assistance schemes has not changed, and the staff and operational bases for the schemes remain the same.

The reference to “later this summer” in my response to S4W-08824 was intended to indicate that the contract for the new Northern Isles ferry services would be published on the Transport Scotland website after the summer recess. This is still our intention. The precise date of publication has yet to be fixed.

In response to concerns raised by the RMT union about the new Northern Isles ferry services contract, on 23 July 2012 Serco NorthLink's Managing Director met with representatives from both the RMT and Nautilus. A framework for representative dialogue was agreed with both unions and a formal exchange of correspondence followed between Serco NorthLink and the RMT.

On 30 July 2012, the RMT issued a news release stating that its major concerns had been addressed by Serco NorthLink and confirming that the proposed ballot for industrial action had been cancelled. As Serco NorthLink was able to swiftly satisfy the RMT’s concerns, the ferry operator did not reach the stage where contingency planning was required.

The Scottish Government has not issued informal guidance on school reform to local authorities since the Commission on the Delivery of Rural Education was established.

Recruitment of secondary care junior doctors is coordinated by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) through the Scottish Medical Training process. GP and Foundation trainees are recruited through the national UK recruitment processes.

In addition NES has, in partnership with the north of Scotland territorial health boards, offered a “Rural-track GP Specialty Training” option from August 2012. This is designed to offer an attractive rurally based training option to junior doctors.

NES has developed a marketing strategy aimed at helping recruitment to remote and rural areas of Scotland. This can be viewed at www.mmc.scot.nhs.uk/living-and-working-in-scotland/remote-and-rural.asp.